Ontario model charms millions on TikTok with lip-syncs of old-school hits

TORONTO —
An Ontario model is taking TikTok by storm with his lip-syncing videos featuring ’70s, ’80s and ’90s hits.

Millions of people have watched William Whyte, who goes by the handle @whiteyy18, lip-sync to old-school classics including “Don’t Stop Believin'” by Journey and The Police’s “Every Breath You Take.”

So far, the 21-year-old from Niagara Falls, Ont. has garnered more than1.4 million followers on the platform.

“I saw like other people that were good looking, doing the same stuff and I was like, ‘maybe this could make me get into modelling,'” Whyte told CTV’s Your Morning on Friday. “So, I started just making videos for fun, pretending it was like my own little music video, and it just started blowing up in there.”

Whyte even got a shoutout from Barry Manilow on Instagram, after he had recorded a video of himself lip-syncing to Manilow’s 1974 hit, “Mandy.”

“That was huge, man. Like, it was surreal,” Whyte said. “Barry Manilow, like, I didn’t know him personally, but I knew he was like big time, and I knew that song.”

Prior to TikTok, Whyte had actually played AAA level hockey after high school. Now, he’s hoping to build his career in modelling and become an actor someday.